The present invention relates to spools or reels for use as a means for collecting or paying out webs or strips of flexible material, and more particularly to improvements in reels or spools which can be used with advantage for storage of photographic paper or the like. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in reels or spools of the type wherein the core which supports convoluted web material is permanently but preferably separably connected with at least one flange.
It is already known to make the core of a reel for photographic web material from cardboard or the like and to connect the ends of the core with two discrete disk-shaped flanges having parallel inner sides or surfaces so that the width of the annular space between the flanges is constant all the way from the periphery of the core to the peripheries of the flanges. As a rule, the width of the annular space equals or only slightly exceeds the width of a web which is to be convoluted onto the core. A drawback of such reels is that, when the web which is being convoluted onto the core is inclined so that its marginal portions are not exactly normal to the axis of the core, one marginal portion of the web bears against the adjacent flange with a substantial force, especially in the region close to the periphery of the flange, whereby the web is likely to be damaged, e.g., the web can break or develops a frayed marginal portion. The likelihood of damage to the web can be reduced by employing flanges which are yieldable within certain limits, especially if the web to be collected by the core is relatively short (e.g., in the range of up to 100 meters); however, the flanges of relatively large reels must be rigid, particularly if the core is to collect up to and in excess of 300 meters of web material.